Rep. McCaul emerges from trenches to tackle border issues

McCaul emerges from the GOP's trenchesSecurity panel chairman will use his high-profile role to investigate border issues

STEWART M. POWELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU

Published
6:30 am CST, Thursday, January 27, 2011

Rep. Mike McCaul says, "I think the oversight role of Congress could be key to action."

Rep. Mike McCaul says, "I think the oversight role of Congress could be key to action."

Photo: Cliff Owen, AP

Photo: Cliff Owen, AP

Image
1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Rep. Mike McCaul says, "I think the oversight role of Congress could be key to action."

Rep. Mike McCaul says, "I think the oversight role of Congress could be key to action."

Photo: Cliff Owen, AP

Rep. McCaul emerges from trenches to tackle border issues

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

WASHINGTON — As House Republicans queue up legislation to repeal the Obama administration's health care overhaul, a newly empowered Texas lawmaker plans to use his perch to add pressure on the White House's flank by launching investigations into an issue of great importance to Texans: border security.

The newly-named chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee's panel on oversight, investigations and management, U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Austin, is preparing to convene dramatic public hearings to expose alleged waste, fraud and abuse within the $56 billion-a-year Department of Homeland Security, as well as unmasking suspected gaps in border security and intelligence sharing.

As McCaul sees it, investi-gations can unmask mismanage-ment and prompt change more quickly than legislative proposals that face an uncertain outcome in a politically divided Congress.

"Let's be honest," said the four-term Republican from Austin, whose far-flung congressional district stretches to the northwest suburbs of Houston. "It's going to be tough and take time to get things through the Senate - and the president is going to veto a lot of what we do. I think the oversight role of Congress could be key to action."

Political analysts say McCaul's new assignment, after four years as a low-profile congressman in the minority, gives the ambitious lawmaker the visibility he'll need if he plans to run for statewide office, as has been rumored.

"So far, McCaul has been a foot soldier in the Republican delegation that Tom DeLay built," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University and author of Texas Politics: Governing the Lone Star State. "This is his opportunity to build a visible and independent identity outside his district."

The 49-year-old congressman has been preparing for the high stakes role for years. A fourth-generation Texan whose grandfather survived the 1900 Galveston hurricane, McCaul grew up with three brothers in suburban Dallas, where he attended Dallas' prestigious Jesuit Preparatory School.

He subsequently graduated from San Antonio's Trinity University and St. Mary's University law school before working as a prosecutor for the Justice Department's public integrity section. He went on to serve as chief of counterterrorism for the U.S. attorney in Texas and as Texas' deputy attorney general.

As lead prosecutor in a high-profile federal campaign corruption case in the mid-1990s, he won a guilty plea from Johnny Chung, a Taiwan-born businessman, in a case involving nearly $30,000 in illegal contributions to Democrats, including $20,000 to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign in 1996.

McCaul had a "stellar reputation as a hard-nosed prosecutor" when he joined Texas' attorney general's office in 1998, recalled U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-San Antonio, who was attorney general at the time and hired McCaul as his deputy. "His creative approach played an integral role in cracking down on things like repeat felons and Internet predators."

Opposed bailouts

During his time on Capitol Hill, McCaul has built a reputation as a center-right conservative, with a 100 percent rating from anti-abortion organizations, consistent opposition to both stimulus spending and federal bailouts for banks and the auto industry. He also has opposed proposals to enforce limits on greenhouse gas emissions and stepped-up regulation of the energy industry.

McCaul is well-positioned to parlay his post into a springboard for a statewide candidacy for Texas attorney general in 2014. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's recent announcement that she will not seek re-election in 2012 clears the way for GOP Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to seek her seat. In that case, Attorney General Greg Abbott likely would seek to replace Dewhurst, opening the way for McCaul to enter the race to serve as Texas' top law enforcement officer.

McCaul has repeatedly been re-elected by comfortable margins - he garnered 76 percent of the vote last November - and proven to be a formidable campaign fundraiser.

McCaul said he welcomes the administration's cancellation of the troubled high-tech invisible fence, a delayed and over-budget 53-mile pilot project in Arizona that was once envisioned by President George W. Bush to extend along much of the 1,969-mile border with Mexico.

Fort Hood case

He said he foresees his hearings and behind-the-scenes committee investigations being able to force the Obama administration to gain "better operational control over the Southwest border."

He said he also planned to convene a public hearing on whether intelligence agencies failed to alert the Army about intercepted communications between Army Maj. Nidal Hasan and an al-Qaida recruiter in Yemen before Hasan was accused of gunning down 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.

McCaul's new leadership role does carry risks, however. To succeed, the veteran lawmaker must be seen "working to solve real problems and to streamline and improve homeland security," says Jillson. "Failure, which will be easier to achieve, will follow if he is seen as more interested in embarrassing Democrats than in addressing real issues."